Some advice from people who do computational modelling

[413x]

I have done a fair few threads around career etc and I think I have decided on a sensible but challenging path

I want to do an MSc distance learning course.
The problem is these courses are beyond my mathematical ability by education

Most seem to want a degree in computer science or mathematics
Some accept technical science like I've done but I feel I probably won't make the entry requirements as it stands

Seeing as my goal would be to start in 2015 as it's late now and probably require extra education of some description are there any of you guys that do/have done similar?

Saving grace is my degree is molecular biology. I do some of this stuff now in my job and I have a grade B in A level maths

Really I want to do something this year to see if I am capable of the MSc

Any help would be appreciated

 

[413x]

was talking to my boss about this
potentially work may help me out, both financially and if not with time

shame thread has no replies

 

[gregorius]

shame thread has no replies

Here's a reply!

It would be very helpful if you could give some indication of what sort of computational modelling you're interested in. The unqualified term covers an awfully large range of possibilities. Many of these possibilities are highly mathematical (for example, computational fluid dynamics for anything ranging from modelling the weather to the behaviour of plasmas inside fusion reactors); others are less so, but still require a fair grasp of the quantitative aspects of the underlying science.

As you have a qualification in molecular biology, are you interested in something like bioinformatics or proteomics? Or perhaps something like pharmacokinetics?

 

[Xordium]

It's quite a broad question you've asked there and I can only answer it from my perspective.

My company exclusively does medical modelling of physiological processes. The maths is very heavy and the bulk of the programming staff come from a maths and physics background rather than computing or medical. Coding wise we use C++ and C# and some lesser known languages, for example ADA. However, this is really specialised stuff and I am sure elsewhere the stipulations may well be very different. I thought it may be worth your while knowing though considering in a field where one may not expect it the problems you are solving are often more to do with fluid dynamics than what you may expect. Therefore irrespective of course content you'd would be assessed by test at interview whether you can meet said standards and those standards would include very good maths skills.

 

[413x]

What i do at work (imo im not good at it) is predominantly data mining
but i use a variety (pick the most appropriate etc to the question, usually the hardest part is isolating the question, and manipulating what to put into the modelling process) and try to get something which is somewhere between justifiable and unknown to the situation.

the software is very GUI based and not aimed at pure statisticians.

this is fine when everything works..if it doesnt, i dig. and sooner rather than later maths come out to a level i havent encountered before. thus i cannot get to the root of the problem in my understanding

i feel vulnerable in my ability to do my job properly due to this.
i am concerned that without something more i am in a precarious position.
i get frustrated in that i feel with better underpinning knowledge i would be able to answer a lot of questions i ask myself

To get any help from work it would have to be at least justifiable to the job. Fair enough.
The courses are generally aimed at maths/physics grads, not my useless degree

i am lacking in the maths. and you can discount my degree really, it was finished 7 years ago. and really was a big waste of time tbh. i have only done very generic science jobs. I almost decided on doing x-ray diffraction a while ago. i cant remember why i didnt.

one course i was looking at was at KCL - complex systems modelling - it has a foundation maths year. followed by MSc distance learning

the question for me is.. can i do the maths? I dont know. I genuinely couldnt say yes or no.
I feel if i do nothing i will eventually be without a job and worse..only things i will be able to get being low paid due to my erratic career path

to 'crack maths' at least to a point, i am well aware would open so many doors.


taking this out of education and to life
overall.. i feel my position, not just in the company i work, but in life is very unstable.
I want to stablise it and open some more doors if possible.

this is not going to be easy at home..my GF isnt supportive of this ..but that is another issue that may well resolve itself soon

im well aware tis could write off much of my spare time..but without a job, spare time is wortless

 

[Xordium]

It sounds to me like you have already decided that you can't get over the hurdle to do that level of maths which is understandable as most people can't! It may well be you have reached what you can in that discipline and yes that will close of doors for you.

However, your degree is far from useless it sounds to me like you are maybe not necessarily moving in the direction your natural talents lie. And from my perspective looking to go into computational modelling is not playing to something you acknowledge as your strength.

Maybe DP will pop in the thread he will offer you some good suggestions and advice I would wager. What you mustn't do is get downhearted - you are at a time in life where people often have such thoughts it will happen again when you are 40! You see everyone settling down, getting married, starting to have kids and progressing in their careers. Which means nothing of course because they have the same concerns as yourself you just don't know what's going on in their heads.

 

[413x]

Not entirely. I just know it will be very hard. Especially without the support at home.
It may well turn out I can't hack the maths. Hence the foundation course I hope would tell me this.

I didn't like any of the options from my degree. I hated pure lab work and regret massively my BSc choice. But this is done. Realistically what I would love to have done is just down right impossible and would require a new degree which would be impossible to fund. Without a good job anyway!

The worst case would be to eventually loose my job due to ability then have nothing to go to.
Essentially deleting the last few years of progression and going to a job at best a IT bottom of the ladder support job.

Dp has commented in my threads before on career

 

[dowie]

the question for me is.. can i do the maths? I dont know. I genuinely couldnt say yes or no.

Well its easy to find out - try looking for some undergrad maths courses on the open learning platforms - MIT open courseware, EDX, coursera etc...

I'm assuming you've covered basic calculus then you'll next want to look at linear algebra, solving systems of equations, ordinary differential equations, then moving on to partial differential equations. You'll probably also want to take a look at optimization and some statistics.

From what you've posted about your role I'm wondering if a Statistics MSc might not also be worth exploring - the advantage here perhaps for you is that while some of these will be aimed at maths grads I think you might well be able to find some which don't require it so much and are perhaps more applied.

 

[dowie]

I would also point out that this course would be useful to you and is starting in Dec...

https://www.coursera.org/course/compmethods

so you might have a bit of time to self study the maths required - get yourself used to solving ODEs, PDEs etc... It could be hard going for you but its just a free online course so doesn't matter can still give it a go (just go through some of the undergrad maths notes on MIT open courseware first to get yourself up to speed)

though I'm also having de ja vu:

you posted about these sorts of issues a whole year ago:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18549671

and I made the same recommendation for the same course back then too:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25245078&postcount=14

main point is - not having a go but if you really want to understand this stuff, find out whether you can do the maths etc.. then you've just got to give it a go - its no use just pondering it

 

[D.P.]

Your posts a kind of vague without much details. What kind of MSc are you thinking of doing? And where?

Ultimately the math is quite tough, there are no 2 ways around it. Only you will know if you can really cope, and you might not find out until you trying. My courses on machine learning and data mining were very tough and I spent a lot of time going over math textbooks and getting help from the tutors. But I made it, and got an A grade.


Why don't you try doing some example courses from online and see how you cope. Many universities including MIT and Stanford out a lot of lectures online. Try playing with something like R, octave, weka, python and playing with statistics, linear regression, data reduction etc.

 

[KaHn]

It would help with what type of computational modelling you're looking at doing?

Link to the MSc course details would answer a lot of questions.

KaHn

 

[gregorius]

one course i was looking at was at KCL - complex systems modelling - it has a foundation maths year. followed by MSc distance learning

If this is the course you're talking about

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/graduate/complex-systems-modelling

then, from your description of your mathematical experience, I think you might struggle. The foundation course in mathematics looks to be at about the level of second year undergraduate "mathematics for natural science" courses. If all you have is A level maths, that itself is quite a jump.

Two suggestions: (a) beef up your mathematics with an Open University course and then think again depending on how you get on. (b) There are a number of course springing up at the moment that are focused on the so-called big-data revolution. They have titles like "Data Science" or "Data Analytics". They aim at students who don't have a heavy mathematics background; perhaps these would be more suitable to you.

 

[413x]

Thanks for the input guys.
I will get back to this tonight after work with a proper reply rather than a phone typed one

But yes, this year I need to overall see if I can at least make progress with the pre requisites of the courses